The Excelsior
The Excelsior I, set in an elaborate bracelet by Mouawad.
On may 28th, 1971, a sad but inevitable event in mining history occurred: operations finally stopped at the Jagersfontein Mine. Not long before, the mine had celebrated its centenary, the first diamond having been picked up in the Jagersfontein valley in the Orange Free State in August of 1870. Although Jagersfontein was the first South Africa 'pipe' or 'dry diggings' to have been established, its fame was always overshadowed by the mines in the Kimberly district, about 130 km northwest. Yet the output of the mine was great enough to inspire the term "Jagers" to denote a diamond with a beautiful faint bluish tint. In addition Jagersfontein was the source of two of the largest and finest diamonds ever found.
The earlier of these discoveries caused the most dramatic moment in the mine's history. On the evening of June 30th, 1893, an African picked up an immense diamond in a shovel of gravel which he was loading into a truck; he hid it from his overseer and delivered it directly to the hands of the Mine Manager. As a reward he received £500 plus a horse equipped with a saddle and bridle.
The diamond weighed 971 old carats, equivalent to 995.2 metric carats. It possessed the fore mentioned blue-white color characteristic of the finest Jagersfontein diamonds, especially cleavages, and was of very fine quality, although there were a number of internal black spots, another Jagersfontein characteristic. The shape of the stone was out of the ordinary: flat on one side and rose to a peak on the other, somewhat like a loaf of rye bread. Apparently this is what inspired the diamond to be named 'Excelsior', meaning higher.
The Excelsior may justly lay claim to be the 'Great Unknown' of famous diamonds. As will be explained further along, there is no single Excelsior fragment of exceptional size which would have helped to keep its name in the public eye, thus helping keep track of the fragments. In addition, except for having stimulated some interest among local diggers, the finding of such a large stone seems to have made singularly little impact. No account of the discovery appeared in the more authoritative and prestigious British newspapers which often reported lesser discoveries at the time. Maybe if the diamond had been originally been given a less unglamorous name its fame might have spread further outside of South Africa. Yet consider the facts ... before the discovery of the Excelsior the only rival to the stone was the legendary Great Mogul, of Indian origin, generally thought to have weighed 787½ old carats in the rough. The so-called Braganza Diamond, which was found in Brazil in the 1700s and according to some sources weighed 1680 carats, was considered to have been a white sapphire, topaz or light aquamarine, very unlikely a diamond. So the the Excelsior still ranks as the second largest rough diamond of gem quality ever found, only the Cullinan being larger.
After various highs and lows the Jagersfontein Mine eventually became the sole property of the New Jagersfontein Mining & Exploration Company Limited, formed in April of 1887. It so happened that on the very day the Excelsior was found the contract between the mining company and the consortium of London firms which purchased the mine's output expired. If the diamond had been found a few hours earlier it would have made a substantial difference in profit to the parties concerned. However, the Excelsior was shipped to the London offices, located at 29 and 30 Holborn Viaduct, of Messieurs Wernher, Beit & Co., the largest of the ten firms that comprised of the London consortium. Wernher, Beit & Co. sought to insure the diamond for £40,000 but could only get insurance to the extent of £16,250.